Opinions on highway bars

[Seth Matthews]

I was considering putting foot pegs on my GS1000G, out in front of the headers, or putting crash bars on it. I found a few highway bars online. These look like they'd fit, but I wonder how far out they'd go from the engine case, and if they'd fit around my front fairing. Or even what they'd look like on there. All opinions are welcome, I don't want to trash the bike up by putting the wrong thing on it and taking away from the class of the fairing.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Suzuki-GS100...4a3c96&vxp=mtr

http://www.ebay.com/itm/80-SUZUKI-GS...c05cea&vxp=mtr

 

[Kynan C.]

Hmm, these look good. I like the full wrap around ones. Like you show in your first auction link.

 

[Beekman]

I dont have a suzuki gs, but i do have a 1980 yamaha maxim, these and the cb's and the gs' of the time were all pretty similar. I know on mine I would not have had room for a bar that goes across above the exhaust. My mount barely squeezed in above the headers. Just something to think about.

Definitely wouldnt be able to fit lowers with that type of bar either. I have engine guards/highway pegs similar to the 2nd picture Avetter posted, to get my feet around the lowers though i needed to extend my pegs out a bit with some spacers
Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

 

[John W]

I've had the small ones on my cb 350F when I had to make an emergency brake and went down with about 40 kph. Also had leather saddle bags on the rear, but it saved my oil pan from damage, where the crash bar was rather 'scratched'. Glad I installed them a few days earlier!

 

[steppenwolf]

I just have the ones I think are called case guards with hwy pegs and they have protected my bike when run into and dropped.You can kinda see them in this pic.

 

[rob.lafady]

I really like crash bars, they've save me quite a few times plus you can mount highway pegs to them!

 

[steppenwolf]

I can see where crash bars,the big ones would help for slow speed opps but I am not so sure at higher speeds if any thing would help other than a good riding suit.I am just kinda set in my ways

 

[John W]

Not sure how well the bigger ones work, but having gone down with 25 mph and the bike sliding on over pavement, they worked nicely. I left the crash bar on, but even if I had replaced it, it would still be a cheaper fix then the oil pan of your bike!

 

[Seth Matthews]

Just got them on Monday night.

 

[steppenwolf]

Now we hope you never use them.

 

[Seth Matthews]

Hopefully just for foot pegs lol

 

[brianinpa]

Well, you never know when these big bikes need to take a nap, so having the bars in place help prevent minor damage from those times that the bike just falls... asleep.

 

[steppenwolf]

Or the 80 mph power slide into the garage.

 

[Kynan C.]

Only Steppen could pull off the power slide like that.

 

[steppenwolf]

If I didn't put the kick stand down too soon I woulda been fine

 

[brianinpa]

Seth, as another vote of encouragement for others that might be on the fence, here is what the front fender of a Buick Le Sabre looks like after tangling with a crash guard and highway peg. The only thing it did to the bars was fold the highway peg in and it didn't touch the engine.

 

[Terraplane Tom]

I love them on my bike!

 

[Kynan C.]

Looks sharp Tom

 

[Dave Ireland]

All my bikes have had engine / crash bars, for longer than I care to recall. They've saved me the long walk home on numerous occasions; even if they ended up being a bit dented and bent, but they did their job. Some people don't like the look of them and refuse to even consider fitting them just because of appearance. They usually change their tune when they dump the bike and hole a casing.
My latest acquisiton, the XJ900, had them fitted already, but these ones are very close-in and engine-hugging. So much so, that when I accidentally dropped the bike on its side in the workshop, I couldn't lift it up again, as there was no pivot point sticking out to rock the bike up on, as my other bars provided. This is the drawback of the narrow-form engine on the XJ, I suppose. To address that, I'll have to fit a longer bar, running across the frame, just about where highway pegs would be, and have it poking out each side.

 

[Larry Fine]

Dunno why I haven't chimed in 'ere now. I have case-guards with pegs attached.

As the Nighthawk has an upright seating position, my feet are almost directly beneath my body. This makes it easier to put weight on the pegs for more stable mid- and high-speed cornering It also makes it easier to rise off the seat for bumps, and even to stand, without having to shift my weight forward first.

Some bikes have the factory pegs so far forward, this is impossible. With the factory pegs beneath me,forward-mounted pegs are a must for long rides. With my feet down, my weight is mostly on my thighs and the front of my pelvis, but with my feet forward, I \can shift my weight to the rear of my rear.